Russia eyes $4 bln arms contract with Saudis

[tigershark]

Russia eyes $4 bln arms contract with Saudis
13/05/2008 15:27 MOSCOW, May 13 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's state arms exporter Rosoboronexport is preparing a $4 billion arms contract with Saudi Arabia, the Gazeta daily reported on Tuesday.

A preliminary agreement on the purchase of Russian weaponry was reached in November 2007, during a meeting between then-president Vladimir Putin and Crown Prince Sultan Ibn Abdel Aziz Al Saud in the Kremlin.

Riyadh reportedly intends to buy 150 T-90S main battle tanks, worth around $500 mln, a large consignment of BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles, over 100 Mi-35 (Hind) transport/attack and Mi-17 (Hip) multirole helicopters, and around 20 Buk M2E surface-to-air medium-range missile systems.

Experts say the helicopter contract alone is worth around $2 billion.

Even if the deal with Saudi Arabia goes ahead, it is just a drop in the ocean compared to the market share enjoyed by the U.S. and the U.K., who jointly control 90% of Saudi arms purchases.

The arms contract with the Saudis could also boost Russia's admission to the World Trade Organization. During ongoing bilateral negotiations with Moscow, Riyadh demanded access to Russian hydrocarbon deposits and pipelines.

Moscow's chief WTO negotiator Maxim Medvedkov said recently an agreement with Riyadh could be finalized in June.

Source
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080513/107248860.html

[Globetrotter]

  How is it that they are getting Russian tech while they have F-15, Tornados and maybe Eurofighters in the near future? Isn't that a manteniance nightmare? What about coordination?

[tigershark]

I agree it will be a maintenance nightmare but they do have tons on money for support.  There are many different firms performing daily maintenance in the Kingdom.

Commutations between the two types Russian/western might be difficult like through datalinks but it is 2008 maybe that could be worked out.   

The T-90 isn't a bad tank but some tanker guys I know in this other forum said it could be better, I think India has some FCS problems and operating in the heat.   They already operate American tanks so now a different size main gun ammo would have to maintained, just can't see this really happening.  The tankers guys did give high marks to the BMP-3, good 30mm gun and improved engine performance. 

SAS73 pointed it out some place else 100 Mi-35s because of Iran?  Seems like just Russian hype on this sale overall I guess time will tell.   When is Russia ever going to get the Mi-28N in service already there still flying this Mi-35 bus size beast for so long.  For ground troops with no air support it's still nasty don't get me wrong it's just for gunship/attack halo's there are more modern platforms out there.

The Hip-17 still give you a good bang for the buck 30 troops for I think around $6/7 mil per maybe a little more with some special upgraded or high end systems.

Buk M2E surface-to-air medium-range missile systems - I really don't know what this is maybe somebody who knows missiles/SAM's can explain better.

My guess less 40% of this deal will happen